I believe that the correct answer should be that Americans blamed US intervention on the Carter Administration, which led to his loss in the Election of 1980, because he worsened the relations with the Soviet Union, relations that were much better during the time of previous president, Richard Nixon. It wasn't that much about the Afghan people since he thought "a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil". Also, he lost his 1980 election to Ronald Reagan, who promised-and delivered-an even more vigorous anticommunist foreign policy.
